STAR OBSERVER WEEKLY NEWS WRAP-UP

This week’s edition is the final weekly print edition of the Star Observer, before we return on April 17 with a fabulously stylish new-look monthly publication.

We’re adapting with the way our readers consume news and also increasing our focus with online news content – both of which is certainly presenting exciting prospects for Australia’s most-respected LGBTI news source.

Star Observer editor Elias Jahshan goes into more detail about what you can expect as we embrace the future on page 13 of this week’s edition.

Other highlights this week include our report on the latest on the LGBTI museum for Taylor Sq, Victoria Police’s no-show to an anniversary screening of a documentary about an infamous 1994 gay club raid; exciting news for the Queen’s Ball in Brisbane, a low-down on the Purchas Cup last weekend, and previews of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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VIC: WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV LOOK TO AIDS 2014

WOMEN from across Australia living with HIV will meet in Melbourne over the weekend for the national conference for women with HIV.

Sessions across the weekend will look at current treatments for HIV, disclosure, sex and intimacy, and advocacy skills for women living with HIV, among other topics. The conference will also include perspectives on and from specific groups of women living with HIV, including culturally and linguistically diverse, rural, youth and newly diagnosed, and women living in the Northern Territory | Read more

NATIONAL: ONLINE TOOLKITS TO HELP COMBAT BULLYING

THE Community Brave Foundation has released a series of new, quick-access, online anti-bullying toolkits for use within the nation’s schools and workplaces, in order to mark today’s National Day of Action Against Bullying.

Developed in association with The Cyber Safety Lady, Carmen Rupe Memorial Trust and Organisation Intersex International Australia, the toolkits are targeted towards the LGBTI community and according to Community Brave Foundation founder and chairman Rami Mandow, social media offers an opportunity to provide fast facts on what bullying is and how to deal with it | Read more

NSW: MIDNIGHT SHIFT TO CUT HOURS – LOCKOUTS BLAMED

ICONIC Sydney gay bar The Midnight Shift is to dramatically cut its hours from the end of the month with the blame being laid at the feet of NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s recently-passed lockout laws.

From March 31, the Oxford St venue – which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012 – will close its doors for three days a week from Monday to Wednesday.

The bar will remain open from 2pm – late from Thursday to Sunday each week.

Venue coordinator Leigh Harder said following the introduction of NSW’s new lockout laws in late February, revenue generated on the weekend was no longer sufficient to cover the operating costs on the quieter days of the week | Read more

INTERNATIONAL: WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH LEADER DIES

THE founder of the controversial and publicly homophobic Westboro Baptist Church has died.

Fred Phelps, 84 (pictured) , has been battling illness for a few weeks and his death was confirmed today by his daughter Shirley Phelps.

Phelps and his congregation frequently attracted controversy through their picketing at various LGBTI-friendly events, shows by pro-LGBTI celebrities, and funerals of gays and lesbians | Read more

ACT: LANDMARK VICTORY FOR ACT TRANS* AND INTERSEX RESIDENTS

TRANS* and intersex residents in the ACT can now officially change the gender on their birth certificates without requiring reassignment surgery after a landmark win in the territory’s parliament this afternoon.

The amendments to the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, which passed without opposition, allow individuals to alter their birth certificate to identify as male, female or X, and all that is required is for a doctor or psychologist to certify they have received ”appropriate clinical treatment” – which has not been defined so as to leave it open to the doctor or psychologist.

The changes also now provide intersex people with the option to change the sex recorded on their birth certificate | Read more

ACT: LGBTI ADVOCACY GROUP RETURNS TO FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

LEICHHARDT federal Coalition MP Warren Entsch has confirmed that the cross-party group that he helped form in 2011 in support of LGBTI Australians will return to the parliamentary calendar in the current Federal Parliament.

Known as the Parliamentary Friends for LGBTI Australians, the group was engaged in the promotion of LGBTI rights within Federal Parliament between the 2010 and 2013 federal elections, while also teaching the LGBTI community about the ins and outs of federal politics. It encompasses 27 members from across the political spectrum | Read more

NSW: CALLS FOR NSW GOVERNMENT TO COMMIT TO BETTER LGBTI SCHOOL SERVICES

THE NSW Teachers Federation has urged the NSW Government to commit to further LGBTI support services and diversity training resources within the state’s schools, after the Growing Up Queer study that was published last month highlighted growing levels of homophobia and transphobia across schools.

Conducted by the University of Western Sydney, the Young and Well CRC and Twenty10, the study showed that out of the 1000 LGBTI students and young adults surveyed, over 42 per cent had thought about suicide or self-harm, 16 per cent had actually attempted suicide, while 33 per cent had actually committed acts of self-harm.

These results were specifically attributed to the widespread presence of homophobic and transphobic harassment and violence within Australian society | Read more